Carbon blacks are often produced as granulated products and, in this form are often referred to as carbon black granules, beaded carbon blacks or pelletized carbon blacks. The way in which granulations are performed will differ according to the structure and surface area of the carbon blacks. Thus, carbon blacks with a low structure agglomerate more easily than carbon blacks with a high structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,981,625 describes inks containing a dye with a particle size of 0.01 μm to 25 μm, a hydrocarbon resin, an oxidised polyethylene and a resin as binder. U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,652 describes a process for the production of inks containing an adhesive, selected from the group consisting of sorbitol, hydrogenated dextrose, glucose, lactose, neopentyl glycol, mannitol, mannose and polyethylene glycol, and a dust binder. In addition, a carbon black composition containing carbon black and a binder selected from the group comprising ethoxylated esters and polyethers is disclosed in WO 96/21698.
One disadvantage often encountered with carbon black beads is that they are usually difficult to disperse and have a low gloss when incorporated into printing inks. In addition, such printing inks tend to have poor flow properties, high water absorption and poor free running behaviour on printing plates.